


Why are you still here?

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-12
Updated: 2012-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-20 22:52:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/590544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carol takes care of Jess while she's sick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why are you still here?

“What’s wrong with you?” Carol asks, leaning in the doorway. She’s got her foot stuck over the threshold and won’t let Jess close the door on her. Not to mention her shoulder is shoved half way in the door frame and she’s peeking around the door’s edge trying to get a better look at the apartment like it’s going to be full of answers.

“Nothing wrong’s with me.” Jess frowns. She looks pale, and the concerned wrinkles in her forehead look a little deeper than usual. Maybe she’s not getting enough sleep. It happens sometimes. Nightmares, you know, you don’t get brain washed by Hydra and ease on back into life without a side effect or two. 

“Where you been then?” Carol challenges. She could shove the door aside if she wanted to. Crack it in half, rip it off the frame, push Jess out of the way the same as sliding an empty cardboard box across the floor but she doesn’t because as much as she’s prying, she’s not going to be a total ass and bust into Jessica’s apartment without invitation first. She may keep wheedling until she gets a proper invitation, and also might not go away, but she’s going to get one that’s the point.

“Here.” Jess sighs and puts her head in her hands. She closes her eyes. “Carol what do you want?”

Carol makes a tsking noise. “To come in.” Duh.

“Yeah, alright.” Jess turns away from the door, not bothering to hold it closed anymore. 

Carol comes through without hesitation and follows Jess over to the couch where they both fall onto the cushions. Jess looks tired. Carol can see now she’s wearing her favorite outfit, sweats and a tank top. There’s something super sexy about the whole casual thing, and Carol nearly died that time she saw Jess with her hair in a sloppy bun and wearing those soffe short-shorts. But this wasn’t the same. She didn’t look sexy, she looked sick. All over her skin was pale and her collar bone was shiny like she’d been sweating. Not to mention her hair was unwashed and there were dark circles under her eyes.

“Jess, seriously, what’s wrong.” Carol asks. She reaches for Jess’s hand, squeezing up her fingers, holding tight. Jess doesn’t even bother to squeeze back. Jess rolls her eyes towards Carol and stares at her for a long moment, not saying anything. Carol isn’t even sure what makes her do it, but she reaches out with the back of her hand and presses it to Jess’s forehead. She’s burning hot. Like hotter than a normal person should feel. “Fuck, you’re sick.”

“I’m not sick. Spiders don’t get sick.”

Carol isn’t sure that that’s true, but even if it was “You’re not a spider, you’re a person. And you’re sick.” She would be lying if she said she wasn’t frustrated. It’s stunts like this that Jess just loves to pull. Running off on her own thinking she can take care of herself. Carol knows, oh god, she knows better than anyone else that Jessica Drew is a big girl and can in fact take care of herself more often than not. She also knows that Jess is reluctant, and stubborn, and can be a petulant child if she wants to be and won’t ask for help when she needs it. “You make me so mad sometimes, you know that.” Carol scolds, pulling Jess in close, wrapping her arms around the other female’s shoulders. Jess doesn’t say anything to this either, just bows to the whims of the strong arms around her shoulders and lays a tired head against Carol’s arm.

“Don’t yell at me.” Jess’s voice is tiny when she finally speaks, and it’s so long after the fact that Carol’s nearly forgotten what she said in the first place. Carol leans in to press a kiss to Jessica’s forehead, concerned again with how warm it feels against her lips.

“Okay.” Easy as pie, Carol scoops Jess up off the couch. Super strength does have its advantages after all. “I’m sorry I yelled at you, babe. Let’s get some sleep alright?”

Carol spends the night. Not curled up with Jess in bed like she would have liked, but taking care of her instead. She pulls the covers up to Jess’s chin and lets her sleep a while. She puts a cool cloth on Jess’s forehead and changes it out when it gets warm. When the fever doesn’t break she wakes Jess long enough to have her swallow pills and strokes her hair to get her back to sleep again. Jess tosses and turns like she normally does. She wakes with a start, and a gasp. Carol holds her hand and whispers soothing things and tells her ‘It’s okay’ and that ‘It was just a dream’ and Jess nods off again.

The next morning, Jess is still running hot and when she wakes she’s muddled and hazy. “Mum?” She murmurs, carding her fingers through Carol’s blonde hair.

Carol’s stomach twists in a knot and she shakes her head. “No, babe, it’s Carol.”

Jess gets this look on her face like she wants to cry, and her chin quivers a little bit, but she nods her head. “My mum’s dead, isn’t she.” She whispers.

Carol climbs into bed and pulls Jess against her own body so they are flushed tight together. She closes her eyes and breathes in deep and nods. “She’s dead and gone, Jess. I’m sorry.”  
They stay holding each other for a long time.

Jess doesn’t get hungry, but Carol hadn’t seen her eat all last night and it’s breaking later and later into the morning so Carol tries to feed her toast. It doesn’t go over very well, and Jess gets sick in the bathroom. Carol holds back her dark hair and rubs soothing circles in her back and waits it out through Jess’s dry heaving and her spitting vomit in the toilet bowl. “Why are you still here?” Jess asks. She’s got tears in her eyes from puking.

“Someone has to take care of you.” Carol says, trying a smile. Jess doesn’t smile back.

Carol sits Jessica on the toilet and brushes her teeth for her, which is actually really weird and not something she’s ever done before. Jess is pliant, and follows direction, and murmurs her thanks when they’ve rinsed with mouth washed and she’s spit that out in the sink.

Carol runs her a cool bath and helps wash Jessica’s hair. Jess mostly tries to lie down in the water or lay her head against the tile wall. She moves when Carol tells her to move, but has trouble holding up her arms and gets a defeated look on her face, more pathetic than Carol has ever seen. 

“Babe.” Carol kisses her on the mouth, and prays that what Jess’s got isn’t contagious. “You’re doing good, we’re almost finished.”

“Why are you still here?” Jess asks again, swallowing loud enough that Carol can hear it.

“Because I love you.” Carol tells her. “And I want to take care of you.”

Jess lets Carol help her out, watches her drain the tub with a big fluffy white towel wrapped around her shoulders, and let’s Carol rub her dry, and then change her into a fluffy white robe instead. Carol brushes out Jess’s dark black hair, gentle as she can be with the brush. Jessica sits for it, and when it’s done she’s glad to curl up on the couch (even if her hair is still wet) and sleep. Carol let’s her relax.

When Jess wakes again she’s doing better. She seems coherent and looks much more rested than before. She even manages some soup. They watch Die Hard on cable and all the good lines are edited, but the sound’s turned down low enough that they can hardly hear it and neither are paying proper attention anyway. Jess’s fever wears away as the day wears on and it’s night time again when she’s finally feeling like herself.

Carol presses the back of her hand to Jessica’s forehead and smiles. “Feeling better?”

Jessica nods. “Carol…” She starts, staring down at her hands like they’re suddenly really interesting.

“Don’t say a thing.” Carol warns. She reaches out for Jess’s neck and hold’s it gently in her hand, drawing a thumb across Jess’s jawline. “You know if you need help, all you have to do is ask. I’m always here for you.”

“I know.” Jess whispers, closing her eyes. “But you didn’t have to do this for me.”

“Babe. I wanted to. That’s what you do when someone you care about is sick, you take care of them.”

Jess’s got her eyes closed now, and big fat tears come rolling down her face squeezed out from the corner of her eyes. She launches forward, burying her face in Carol’s chest. Carol’s a little taken a back, but moves to wrap Jess up in a warm hug. Jessica starts crying, great wracking sobs that shake her all over. She clenches her fists in Carol’s shirt and soaks the front of it with tears and she cries and cries until her head hurts and she just can’t cry anymore.

Carol’s got her hands in Jessica’s hair, soothing down the side of her torso. “Babe.” She whispers, a soft pleading sound. “Talk to me.”

“My father…” Jess chokes on the words and sounds like she’s going to burst into sobs again at any moment. “I was sick and he stuck me with needles. He made me worse.” Jess can still feel the pain of the prick in her arm, the deathly ill feeling deep down in the pit of her stomach, the sun on her skin and the breeze and the air so fresh it made her want to throw up because her body was wrong and impure and accepting something so natural and clean from the earth just didn’t feel right. “My mum, she didn’t know. She couldn’t help me. No one could help me.”  
“I’m here.” Carol tells her. “I can help you. I’ll always be here to help you.”

Jess gets set off and starts crying again, but Carol thinks these are tears of gratitude and acceptance and she just lets it happen. She tries to be as comforting as she can be, and she murmurs soft encouragement and enthusiasm and tells Jess just how far she’s come and how safe she is now and how she’ll never have to feel like that ever again and Jess just keeps on crying.  
“I don’t deserve you.” Jess sobs.

Carol’s heart twists up, and even though Jessica’s face is hidden away in her collarbone she smiles a little for her any way. “You’re right,” Carol admits. “You deserve so much better, but for now I’ll have to do.”


End file.
